By Express News Service
VIJAYAWADA: Perturbed by the increase in the number of attacks on people mistaken for members of Pardhi, Chaddy and other kidnapping gangs, DGP M Malakondaiah on Thursday requested the public not to take law into their hands and warned of action against those assaulting innocent people. He also warned of action against those spreading rumours on social media platforms such as Facebook and WhatsApp.
Addressing media here on Thursday, Malakondaiah said the messages being circulated on social media were fake and those spreading them would be arrested. “The social media posts that are being circulated are baseless and the government has nothing to do with them. We ask people to maintain calm,” he said adding that, so far, 9 such incidents had been reported in the state and 16 persons arrested for attacking innocent strangers. “Based on their untidy appearance and language, people are suspecting some strangers to be members of kidnapping gangs and attacking them,” the DGP said.
Malakondaiah admitted that there were instances across the state where people took law into their own hands and killed workers from other states, homeless and mentally-challenged people believing the rumours. “Three persons were killed by mobs in Chittoor, Kurnool and Vizag on suspicion that they were kidnappers. Cases were registered against those involved in the attacks and also against those who were spreading rumours under IT Act,” the DGP said.
He assured the people that the police would be available 24/7 and asked them to dial 100 (free service) in case of emergencies. Expressing confidence that there were no gangs operating in the state, he said, “The leader of Pardhi gang Vijaya Rathore died and his aides are in jail. We are in constant touch with Maharashtra police and tracking the activities of the notorious gang. We busted their networks and most of the gang leaders are in the custody of police. There is no need to worry about the posts, pictures and videos being circulated.’’
The rumours are not restricted to Andhra Pradesh. The fear is rife in neighbouring states of Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka . “After we conducted awareness programmes in villages, some people have caught strangers roaming around ‘suspiciously’ and handed them over to police, but there were knee-jerk reactions leading to attacking and lynch of suspects,” he observed.
Vijayawada PCR received 111 calls in four days
In Vijayawada alone, police control room received calls from as many as 111 people in the past four days about ‘suspicious’ persons roaming their localities. “Not all the calls were true. Based on the suspicious person’s dress, people are getting panicky and complaining. Of the total 111 complaints, only six were genuine and suspects were taken into custody,” said Vijayawada city police commissioner Gautam Sawang.
